Judges back quashing of 'unlawful' rules to limit protests

Civil rights campaigners have hailed a "huge victory for democracy" after the court of appeal upheld the quashing of a key anti-protest regulation they said was introduced unlawfully.

- Damien Gayle

The government had appealed against a high court ruling that the previous home secretary, Suella Braverman, did not have the power to redefine "serious disruption" as "more than minor" in the law concerning when police could impose limits on protests.

It was a change in law that seriously limited the kinds of actions protesters could take, and which campaigners said had given police almost unlimited discretionary power over which protests to allow and which to halt.

Akiko Hart, the director of the human rights organisation Liberty, which brought the initial challenge, said: "Today's judgment is clear, just as it was last year, that these laws should never have been made.

"They were a flagrant abuse of power from a government determined to shut down protesters they did not personally agree with.

"Five different judges over two separate hearings have now ruled that 'serious' simply cannot mean 'more than minor'. It's therefore even more surprising that the current government chose to continue the appeal into this case and argue that wasn't the case.